Point of View / TGT is locked and loaded with its new GTX 680 Beast Watercooled Edition 4GB graphics card. The main difference between this card and the earlier launched GTX 680 Beast Watercooled Edition 4GB is in the factory overclock. Users should not worry about whether they’ll buy the new card, because the company’s retail channels already carry the new card only. That the card is a new model is clear from the ‘Low Leakage’ sign highlighted on the box. Low Leakage means that PoV/TGT handpicked the crème of the crop GPUs that can handle higher clocks.

GTX 680 Beast 4GB (Low Leakage Selection) has a Base GPU clock at 1137MHz, while the earlier GTX 680 Beast 4GB ran at Base GPU clock of 1111MHz. The Low Leakage Selection’s Boost clock is 1229MHz, which is 92MHz higher than the Base clock. The “regular” Beast’s Boost clock is 1176MHz, which his 65MHz higher than the Base Clock.

It’s not only the GPU clocks that are responsible for superior performance. Namely, the Low Leakage card comes with overclocked memory, which wasn’t the case with the previous model. The memory comes overclocked by 101MHz (404MHz effectively). We must admit we liked the memory overclock because most users will never overclock it, despite the obvious performance gains in many games.

The graph below shows that while playing AvP at 2560x1600 with 4xAA and 16AF, the maximum Boost clock was at constant 1267MHz.

The water block used by PoV/TGT is AquagraFX. It is made by Aqua Computer and can be purchased separately.

The I/O panel is identical to those we’ve seen on air-cooled PoV/TGT cards. There are two dual-link DVIs and standard HDMI and DisplayPort outs. The card is powered via one 8-pin and one 6-pin power connectors.

Part of the memory is on the back of the card, which is bare and has no heatsink or backplate.

GTX 680 Beast 4GB was cooled via Aqua Computer’s three-fan radiator. The first results we got show that the low GPU temperatures (maximum of 44°C in AvP) worked great for the Boost clocks, which were maxed out and in turn brought performance gains. We received two GTX 680 Beast 4GB cards so we’ll soon have some SLI results for you as well. We’ll also have some numbers on how overclocking friendly the Low Leakage GPUs are.

If the preliminary figures are anything to go by, we’re looking at the fastest and quietest GTX 680 we’ve tested so far. Anyways, we’ll have the full review up soon, so stay tuned.

A couple days ago we published a preview of Point of View/TGT GTX 680 Beast graphics card and now it’s time to follow it up with a full review. Point of View/TGT GTX 680 Beast’s GPU runs at high 1163MHz. In our preview, we said that the card is the fastest Kepler based card on the market, but our readers have informed us that KFA2 GTX 680 LTD v1 OC is faster and has a 1202MHz GPU. Note however that Point of View/TGT GTX 680 Beast is still one of the fastest cards around.

The GTX 680 LTD OC v1 is a limited edition card, which is naturally available in limited quantities due to the fast CPU speed (but the KFA2 GTX 680 LTD OC v2 with the GPU at 1150MHz is available in sufficient quantities). According to TGT, the number of chips that qualify for Beast cards is sufficient to cover the demand.

Quality and warranty are perhaps even more important than the actual overclock itself. Since we’re talking about Point of View/TGT here, we must say that we haven’t had any bad experiences with their cards.

TGT has a strict selection and only the best GPUs end up on Beast branded cards. This is how the company makes sure that Beast-branded cards not only run at high clocks, but have overclocking headroom as well. Additionally, this is what made the long warranty possible.

Beast GPU comes overclocked by 157MHz and such feats require adequate cooling. TGT opted for its tried and true triple fan cooler, which we’ve seen on GTX 680 UltraCharged cards.

The GTX 680 Beast and GTX 680 UltraCharged use the same cooling. We tested the GTX 680 UltraCharged earlier and we know the cooler packs a mean punch. The UltraCharged’s GPU is factory overclocked by 104MHz, whereas the Beast has a 157MHz overclock. Despite the high Beast’s overclock, the GPU’ temperature is only slightly higher than on the UltraCharged. In both cases, thermals are better than on the reference card.

The cooler’s exceptional performance is not a fluke, since it’s a triple slot cooler with three fans. We’ve already seen a few non –reference coolers for GTX 680 and they were wider than two slots, or taller than the reference design, so we weren’t surprised by PoV/TGT’s decision.

The central fan is a 9cm one while the other two are 8cm. Size isn’t the only difference as the propellers were designed differently.

The fans are enclosed in a plastic mask, which is easily removable if you want to clean the fans. The heatsink is the widest in the middle, so the central fan is larger than the side ones.

The heatsink has five heatpipes – tree goes towards the end and two towards the I/O panel.

The cooler is fixed on the PCB with four screws, which go through the cooler base. The design is pretty tough and we didn’t hear/see any vibration due to the three fans.

On top of the cooler, see below, is a metal plate which would’ve been perfect for a logo, but it was left empty. It seems to us that the plate is there simply to cover the spot where heatsink splits.

PoV/TGT strapped the card with a heatspreader for the memory and other low profile components on the PCB.

Reference GTX 680 cards draw power via two 6-pin connectors. Factory overclocked GTX 680 Beast / UltraCharged has one 6-pin and one 8-pin power connector. Point of View / TGT uses five phase PWM design, one phase more than on the reference card.

GTX 680 Beast comes with two dual-link DVI outs, but only one is analog VGA-out capable. The VGA-out requires using the bottom DVI – the one in line with HDMI and DisplayPort connectors. Nvidia made sure not to lag behind the competition so Kepler based cards can run up to four displays simultaneously.

The card has two SLI connectors, which means Quad GPU is possible.

A metal plate was mounted on the back of the card. We must admit that it really does make it look better but it’s questionable whether it affects cooling performance.

Despite the already hefty 157MHz overclock, we could overclock the GPU even further. Our maximum stable clock was 1223MHz (a 60MHz overclock). The Beast’s memory isn’t factory overclock and it’s really a pity because overclocking the memory helped us a lot with gaming results. The maximum clock we hit for the memory was at about 1650MHz (the reference clock is 1502MHz).

Overclocking the GPU alone from 1163MHz to 1223MHz produced the 70.7 fps result.

Overclocking the memory from 1502MHz to 1650MHz produced the 72.3 fps result.

Overclocking both the GPU and memory produced the 73.7 fps result.

GTX 680 Beast’s cooler had no trouble cooling the overclocked GK104 GPU, which is clear from the fact that fan RPM didn’t exceed 53%, i.e. 1950RPM. The GPU hit 72°C during gaming, which is 6-7°C lower than on reference cards. Furthermore, the Beast’s cooler is not only silent when idle, but impressively quiet when working hard as well. In fact, we had to open the case in order to hear the fans during long gaming sessions.

There are no signs or specs on the fans but we can confirm they do the job well. They only get loud beyond 65% RPM, but fan speed never exceeded 54% RPM, i.e. they were quiet.

The GTX 680 Beast card is powered via one 8-pin and one 6-pin power connectors (the reference PCB uses two 6-pin power connectors). Consumption is some 27W higher than on the reference GTX 680.

There are many good GTX 680 cards on the market and picking the best one is definitely not an easy task. Average users aren’t usually interested in overclocking or noise, so they wouldn’t regret buying a reference card either. The GTX 680 offers great performance for gaming at standard resolutions, 2560x1600 included.

Performance-consumption ratio on GTX 680 cards is already good, so overclocked cards can only build on it. Unfortunately, the price you’ll pay for factory overclocked GTX 680 cards tends to increase significantly the closer you get to the likes of GTX 680 Beast. Naturally, there are always enthusiasts who put performance and silence before price.

The GTX 680 Beast offers quality performance thanks to the 157MHz factory overclock, but the large three-fan cooler helped as well. Beast’s cooler is not only silent when idle, but impressively quiet when working hard as well. Despite the already high overclock, we managed to overclock the GPU by another 60MHz.

The resulting performance would’ve been even better if the memory was overclock, but the Beast, just like most other factory overclocked GTX 680s, comes with reference clocked memory. Overclocking the memory was not difficult though and we easily boosted it from 1500MHz to 1650MHz.

The cooler is a nice foundation for overclocking and GPU temperature didn’t exceed 76°C, not even while running at about 1300MHz. The only possible downside, if there is any, would be that the cooler takes up three slots, so bear this in mind if you’re planning on a SLI setup in the future.

The most affordable GTX 680 currently goes for about €465. The GTX 680 Beast should be somewhere in the range of the GTX 680 Beast Watercooled, i.e. around €550.

In conclusion, Point of View / TGT GTX 680 Beast is one lean and mean beast that would definitely be a worthy addition to anybody’s rig.

Point of View \ TGT GTX 680 Beast has arrived and we can finally confirm it is the fastest factory overclocked GTX 680 card. GPU performance is at the next level thanks to the company's overclock, which boosted the GPU clock from reference 1006MHz to 1162MHz.

The memory was left intact, i.e. it runs at 1502MHz (6008MHz effectively). Many users look for overclocked graphics cards for the sole reason of not having to mess with it yourself, which is why we'd rather have seen Point of View \ TGT overclock the memory. Although we didn't do it yet, we're certain that overclocking the memory on Point of View \ TGT's GTX 680 Beast will go as smoothly as on the rest of the GTX 680 pack. Just like the reference card, the GTX 680 Beast comes with 2GB of GDDR5 memory.

As we suspected, TGT opted on the cooler we've seen on GTX 680 Ultra Charged cards. The cooler has three fans and not only does it keep the GPU cooler, it's quieter than the reference solution as well. The only potential downside of it would be the fact it takes up three slots. The central fan is a 9cm one while the other two are 8cm.

The heatsink has five heatpipes – tree go towards the end and two towards the I/O panel.

GPU temperatures didn't exceed 71 degrees Celsius in Crysis 2, which is an excellent score considering the fans remained almost inaudible, even in long gaming sessions. The cooler did an excellent job despite the incredibly hot weather in Austria as of late.

The card is powered via one 8-pin and one 6-pin power connectors (the reference PCB uses two 6-pin power connectors). Consumption is some 25W higher than on the reference GTX 680. Point of View / TGT used five phase PWM design, one phase more than on the reference card.

The GTX 680 Beast comes with a rich selection of video outs an can run up to four displays simultaneously. Users get two dual-link DVI outs, one standard HDMI and one DisplayPort.

First impressions are excellent - gaming at 2560x1600 is a joy. However, it's the cooler that took the main stage, as it's really quiet and performs great. Point of View \ TGT GTX 680 Beast is not listed yet, but should be priced similarly to GTX 680 TGT Beast Watercooled Edition, which goes for about 560 euro.

Point of View and its TGT overclocking team have announced its own GTX 680 graphics cards. It appears that, in addition to the reference clocked GTX 680, POV's TGT team is preparing four more cards that will feature some sort of factory overclock.

There is nothing new to write about the reference design card as these all use the same Nvidia dual-slot blower-fan cooler and work at 1006MHz for the GPU with 1058MHz Boost and have 2GB of GDDR5 memory clocked at 6008MHz and paired up with a 256-bit memory interface.

The more interesting are the POV/TGT factory overclocked cards and according to our favorite price-search engine, POV/TGT will have four different cards. The lineup starts with the POV/TGT GTX 680 Performance Boost card, that will most likely feature a heftier GPU boost. We are guessing here as POV/TGT haven't officially announced these cards.

The next one is the TGT Charged Edition followed by the TGT Ultra Charged Edition. Both should feature a hefty factory overclock. Unfortunately, every factory OC BIOS now has to be certified by Nvidia so we aren't sure when will these actually be available.

The last but not least is the POV/TGT GTX 680 Beast Watercooled Edition. We at least managed to score a picture of this card but specs are still unknown. We are guessing that POV/TGT are still tweaking it to find a best possible stable factory overclock. The card is paired up with Aquacomputer's Aquagrafx full cover waterblock that weill certainly do a good job in cooling this card. We also managed to find out that the official suggested retail price is expected to be somewhere around €650 including VAT.

The reference Point of View GTX 680 is already available in Europe with a lowest price of €485,82 at Ditech.de.

Our today’s guest is Point of View / TGT GTX 560 2048MB Beast graphics card. As the name clearly states, this graphics card has double the reference amount of memory whereas the moniker Beast says that the card is overclocked. In fact, the GPU runs at 920MHz (reference clock is 810MHz) while the memory is at 1056MHz (reference clock is 1002MHz). Naturally, higher clocks mean higher pricing but we’ll see whether this card can justify its price.

Nvidia expanded its performance segment offer with the launch of Geforce GTX 560 graphics card in May. The GTX 560, together with GTX 560 Ti, was classified as so called “gamers’ sweet spot” graphics, meaning that gamers on tighter budgets should find them very attractive. The optimum gaming resolution is 1680x1050, although 1920x1080 is possible as well depending on the game itself. Of course, factory overclocked GTX 560 2048MB Beast cards should score better at 1920x1080 than their reference counterparts.

GTX 560 prices haven’t changed much since the launch, so the GTX 560 still costs €150. The GTX 560 Ti’s price fluctuated somewhat more and it now stands at €190.

The GTX 560 2048MB Beast will set you back more than €200, which is definitely a turn off for many. However, the card does boast double the memory and higher clocks, although we would have liked to see a quieter cooler as well.

Point of View / TGT GTX 560 2048MB Beast comes in PoV’s recognizable packaging and TGT emblem. Beside the graphics card, the box holds the driver CD and a short user manual. The graphics card has three different video outs so there are not additional adapters/dongles in the box.

GTX 560 2048MB Beast’s full name is TGT-560-A1-2-BST. The company used a black PCB and black dual slot cooling, which isn’t very different from the reference design. The cooler is efficient and the card will have no problems with overheating.

As you can see from the picture, the card has three video connectors. Beside the dual-link DVI and VGA outs, there’s also a standard HDMI one (mini HDMI is a common feature on GTX 560 cards with two DVI connectors).

A metal rail spans the entire length of the card and while it helps with heat dissipation, it also makes the card taller.

The Geforce GTX 560 has a single SLI connector, which means that you can daisy chain two GTX 560 cards for some nice SLI performance boost.

The GTX 560 2GB Beast is powered via two 6-pin connectors.

Although the power connectors are at the end of the card, the card itself is quite short and connecting power cables will not be a drag, not even in smaller cases.

The memory is cooled by fan air only, which we realized after we took off the plastic shroud.

The PCB seems very tidy. The memory is on the GPU side of the PCB. We’re talking about GDDR5 memory chips made by Hynix (the model number H5GQ2H24MFR T2C). They are specified to run at 1250MHz (5000 MHz GDDR5 effective).

Our results show that the GTX 560 2GB Beast left the reference GTX 560 in the dust, mostly due to the high overclock. However, we also included Gainward’s reference GTX 560 2GB and it served to show that the card benefits from the extra memory only on rare occasions.

We managed to push the card to 960MHz and play some games for a few hours. The GTX 560 2048MB Beast’s GPU is capable of 1GHz operation as well, but only after increasing voltages and fan speed, in which scenario we didn’t have stable operation in all games. Voltages can be changed using Nvidia’s Inspector tool.

Thermals and Noise

The GTX 560 2048MB Beast uses a dual slot cooler with a central fan. Idle temperatures of 33°C and load temperatures of 85°C mean that the cooler is efficient and will not let the card overheat. However, note that the cooler was loud when the card was under load. While we expect overclocks to add a few dB to noise levels, it’s a pity TGT didn’t opt for a quieter dual fan cooler as some other Nvidia partners have.

Point of View / TGT once again squeezed out the maximum from Nvidia’s chip. The GTX 560 2048MB Beast runs at 920MHz for the GPU (reference clock is 810MHz) and double the memory, which was overclocked to 1056MHz (reference clock is 1002MHz). The factory overclock provided enough juice for comfortable gaming at 1920x1080.

Although the GTX 560 2048MB Beast packs 2048MB of memory, it will not visibly affect the performance in most cases. While enthusiasts may use the increased memory for downsampling, gamers will see performance improvements in only few games.

The card’s dual slot cooler is efficient but unfortunately loud when the GPU is under load. However, the cooling performance is good enough for additional overclocking. In fact, we managed to do some stable gaming with the GPU at 960MHz. As far as overclocking goes, although the card has double the memory of the reference card, it didn’t stop us from overclocking it to 5000MHz (reference clock is 4008MHz effectively).

GTX 560 prices haven’t changed much since the launch, so the GTX 560 still costs €150. The GTX 560 Ti’s price fluctuated somewhat more and it now stands at €190.

The GTX 560 2048MB Beast will set you back more than €200, which is definitely a turn off for many. However, the card does boast double the memory and higher clocks, although we would have liked to see a quieter cooler as well. Truth be told, the card’s speed indeed is indeed very high, which is the epithet we could use for the pricing as well.

Eight months ago we tested Point of View / TGT GTX 570 Beast graphics card which took the title of the fastest among Geforce GTX 570s. Today we have another GTX 570 Beast card which runs at the same clocks as the first GTX 570 Beast. However, the new Beast comes with improved cooling and more memory, which is the reason why its full name is GTX 570 Beast 2.5GB.

Our readers know that TGT is Point of View’s right hand when it comes to overclocking graphics, and should know that only the fastest graphics card get the Beast treatment. Of course, TGT not only handpicked the GPUs but made sure that each and every one runs at high clocks for a long time.

Nvidia’s plans for new graphics card series have obviously been moved towards the end of 2011, so TGT decided to use the existing Fermi GF110 chips. In case you forgot, Geforce GTX 570 is based on Nvidia’s Fermi architecture, namely the most advanced Nvidia’s GPU so far – the GF110. The card offers excellent performance in the high end segment and is the second fastest single-GPU card in Nvidia’s arsenal.

The GTX 570 Beast 2.5GB runs at 841MHz for the GPU, which is 109MHz higher than on reference cards (732MHz). We’re pretty glad that TGT strapped the new Beast with adequate cooling which cools well and stays quiet while doing so.

Apart from the factory overclock, special dual-fan cooler and double the memory, the GTX 570 Beast 2.5GB can boast a rich video out panel. It includes standard HDMI and DisplayPort connectors, as well as two dual-link DVIs.

GTX 570 Beast 2.5GB graphics cards come with Zalman cooling, which should cater to enthusiasts due to quiet operation and good performance. The only downside is that the cooler takes up 2.5 slots. The cooling has two 75mm fans on it.

The picture below shows Nvidia’s reference Geforce GTX 570 cooling. The Geforce GTX 570 you see here is the one that launched first and actually uses PCBs designed for Geforce GTX 580 cards. Nvidia remedied that in the meantime and designed a new PCB which is the reason why you can find different Geforce GTX 570 cards. Our today’s GTX 570 Beast 2.5GB also uses the new PCB, which is shorter and has a few extra components. The PCB is still 12-layer design rather than the cost-down version that many Nvidia partners go for, but we’ve come to expect only the best from TGT.

Four copper heatpipes are used to transfer heat from the GPU to the large heatsink.

The hood is made of brushed aluminum which both helps with dissipation and makes it look cooler.

PoV/TGT uses direct-touch technology, as you can see on the pictures below. Textured aluminum fins improve dissipation while power components were strapped with a separate heatsink.

Reference Geforce GTX 570 cooling expels most of hot air outside the case, whereas the GTX 570 Beast 2.5GB leaves most of it in the case. This is the reason why you should make sure that in-case cooling is adequate, although enthusiasts and gamers who are most likely to buy this card are probably covered in that department in the first place.

GTX 570 Beast 2.5GB comes with all the current video connectors. The I/O panel holds two dual-link DVIs as well as standard HDMI and DisplayPort outs. Note that reference Geforce GTX 570s come with two dual-link DVIs and one mini-HDMI.

Despite the higher number of video outs, Nvidia’s design allows for only two displays at the same time. This means that using three displays will require a second card.

We already said that the cooler takes up 2.5 slots, but users should be careful with the screws protruding at the other side of the card. The entire cooler is held in place with four screws, which why the mechanism had to made as robust as possible. The cooler is not heavier than 400g though, so it should not be a big issue.

We expected the GTX 570 Beast 2.5GB to score similarly to the reference Geforce GTX 580, which it ultimately did.

3DMark 2011 testing showed that the GTX 570 Beast 2.5GB is capable of beating the Geforce GTX 580 in the less demanding Entry test. At the end of the day though, Geforce GTX 580 remains the fastest single-GPU graphics card.

Judging by what we’ve seen while playing with the GTX 570 Beast 2.5GB, it is definitely the best Geforce GTX 570 we’ve tried so far.

3DMark 2011

Aliens vs Predator Crysis 2

Metro 2033

Unigine Heaven

Overclocking

The GTX 570 Beast 2.5GB is a factory overclocked card that owes its high clocks to carefully handpicked GF110 GPUs. The card comes with Zalman cooling that served us well. We did not change fan rpm or GPU voltages and we still did some gaming at 895MHz. The GTX 570 Beast 2.5GB ran stable at 163MHz (22%) higher clocks than reference.

Thermals and Noise

Thanks to the efficient dual-fan cooling, we had no trouble with GPU temperatures, not even after overclocking it to 895MHz. GPU temperatures were around 78°C when the card was under load, which is still less than on the reference card. Add to that the fact that Beast 2.5GB runs 109MHz faster, and you get the picture.

The fan was almost inaudible both in 2D and 3D modes, and we simply loved the fact that it remained almost inaudible after our overclock.

Power Consumption

Low consumption is definitely not a flagship feature of Beast cards, but what else to expect from a card that’s built for performance. Our testing revealed that the GTX 570 Beast 2.5GB consumes about the same as the reference Geforce GTX 580.

GTX 570 Beast 2.5GB is the second Geforce GTX 570 graphics card that received PoV/TGT’s Beast treatment. The first one launched more than half a year ago, but the time was ripe for a successor. As the name suggests, the Beast 2.5GB has double the memory and comes with quiet but efficient Zalman cooling.

The new GTX 570 Beast 2 card should cater to enthusiasts who crave the best. If we look at the GTX 570 Beast 2.5GB’s GPU clock, which stands at 841MHz, it is clear that the 109MHz factory overclock will leave many competitors in the dust. TGT handpicks only the best GPUs that can take anything you throw at them and then some, be it long gaming hours or overclocking. In fact, there’s still room for additional overclocking despite the hefty overclock, which later helped us to leave even the likes of Geforce GTX 580 in the dust.

Low consumption is definitely not a flagship feature of Beast cards, but what else to expect from a card that’s built for performance. Naturally, high performance requires power and the GTX 570 Beast 2.5GB consumption is similar to the GTX 580’s.

The GTX 570 Beast 2.5GB sports a rich video out panel. It includes standard HDMI and DisplayPort connectors, as well as two dual-link DVIs.

The major con for most of us would have to be the price though, which starts at about 385 euro, here. Compared to most affordable GTX 570s on the market, the Beast 2.5GB costs €100 extra, which means that it’s dangerously approaching the price of GTX 580 cards.

However, if you adamant to stick with air cooling but want a quiet, overclocked and even further overclockable card, then the GTX 570 Beast 2.5 might be the card you’re looking for. We must admit that this was the fastest GTX 570 we’ve tested so far. The cooling is great while additional memory and factory overclocking will help where the reference GTX 570 falls short.

Point of View and TGT joined forces once again and launched three overclocked GTX 550 Ti cards. We’re talking about GTX 550 Ti Charged, GTX 550 Ti Ultra Charged and GTX 550 Ti Beast. As expected, the fastest of them all is the Beast version, which runs at 1012MHz and is our today’s test subject.

The next table shows the aforementioned cards’ clocks:

Model

GPU

Shader

Memory

PoV/TGT GTX 550 Ti "Beast"

1012MHz

2024MHz

4422MHz

PoV/TGT GTX 550 Ti "Ultra Charged"

990MHz

1980MHz

4422MHz

PoV/TGT GTX 550 Ti "Charged"

960MHz

1920MHz

4224MHz

Nvidia Geforce GTX 550 Ti

900MHz

1800MHz

4104MHz

GTX 550 Ti is based on the 40nm GF116 GPU which sports 192 CUDA cores paired up with the 192-bit memory interface and 1GB of GDDR5 memory.

Reference GTX 550 Ti’s performance didn’t quite thrill Nvidia’s partners, nor us for that matter. Thus you could find both reference and overclocked GTX 550 Ti cards on the shelves and priced about the same.

PoV/TGT used Nvidia’s reference dual-slot cooling for its GTX 550 Ti. The cooler has a large round heatsink with an 80mm fan. This type of cooling has proven to be efficient on Nvidia’s cards and it will do a good job on the GTX 550 Ti as well.

The fan uses a 4-pin connector and you can regulate RPM via MSI’s Afterburner or other similar tools.

The card is about 20cm long and looks quite cute. The 6-pin power connector is at the end of the card.

The memory is cooled by air passing through the heatsink.

GTX 550 Ti Beast card has mini-HDMI but a mini HDMI to HDMI adaptor is shipped with the card.

Just one SLI connector means you can daisy-chain two GTX 550 Ti for improved performance.

As far as overclocking, thermals and noise go, we can say that all three parameters are satisfactory. PoV / TGT GTX 550 Ti Beast has 112MHz faster GPU clock and 318MHz (effectively) faster memory. Additional overclock was also good, but we couldn’t expect more given that the card already runs at higher than 1GHz.

Geforce GTX 550 Ti is not a replacement for Geforce GTS 450, although it’s worth mentioning that the latter’s GPU (GF106) is pin to pin compatible with GF116.

We expected to see GTX 550 Ti cards compete with HD 5770 both in price and performance, but Nvidia decided to launch its GTX 550 Ti with a higher price tag. You can find GTX 550 Ti cards for around €120. Unfortunately, the same goes for HD 6850 which is, unfortunately for Nvidia, faster than GTX 550 Ti.

Almost all partners, PoV/TGT included, overclocked their cards in order to juice them up for the performance fight ahead. We tested a special GTX 550 Ti card dubbed the Beast, and the card comes from Point of View and TGT overclocking team. The Beast’s GPU is up from reference 900MHz to 1013MHz while the memory is up from 1026MHz to 1106MHz.

PoV/TGT did a good job with factory overclocking so GTX 550 Ti Beast will be a faithful servant at 1680x1050, as well as at 1920x1080 with maximum settings in most games.

Still, the Beast is plagued by the same downside like the original – it’s price is simply too high when compared to the competition – the HD 6850. PoV/TGT overclocked GTX 550 Ti cards can be found here.

GTX 550 Ti Beast’s cooling keeps temperatures below 75°C, where the fan is almost inaudible, which is great. Just like the reference card, the card boasts two dual-link DVIs and one mini-HDMI connector.

All in all, GTX 550 Ti Beast is a good graphics card that performs well. However, it must be said that it inherited the main negative trait from the original card, which is the price.

Point of View / TGT launched its GTX 580 Beast 2 card that, just like its predecessor GTX 580 Beast, comes with AquagraFX water block (manufactured by Aqua Computer). However, Beast 2 boasts even higher clocks – the GPU runs at 873MHz, which is 101MHz or 13% higher than reference 772MHz.

Point of View / TGT launched its first GTX 580 Beast back in December and its 855MHz GPU earned it the title of the fastest GTX 580 around at the time. However, since other partners have jumped aboard and pushed the GPUs to about 850MHz, the PoV/TGT teams decided to squeeze some more juice out of the card.

Below you see GTX 580 Beast 2 and the GPUz that confirms it’s clocked at 873MHz.

GTX 580 Beast 2 is based on GF110, Nvidia’s fastest GPU. GTX 580 is the high-end successor to the Fermi based GTX 480. GF110’s three billion transistors aren’t easily cooled at 873MHz, prompting PoV/TGT to use AquagraFX water block. Good thing about AquagraFX however is that it’s a slim-line block, i.e. only 9mm thick. This means that Beast 2 is a single slot card.

The card is 10.5 inches (267 mm) long, same as the reference card.

As far as video outs go, we have here the classic Nvidia design, i.e. two dual-link DVIs and mini-HDMI out. Note that only two video outs can be used simultaneously. Nvidia included an HDMI sound device within the GPU, so there is no need for connecting the card to your motherboard’s/soundcard’s SPDIF out to get audio and video via HDMI.

Unlike the initially launched GTX 580 Beast, new Beast 2 is single slot.

The water block is pure quality and, as you can see, it carries TGT branding. “The aquagraFX for GTX 580 has been specifically designed for graphics cards according to reference design of the chip manufacturer. The aquagraFX for GTX 580 effectively cools the RAM, voltage regulators and GPU of your graphics card. The base part of the water-block ismanufactured from pure copper for outstanding performance and durability.“

We found instructions for mounting the water block on reference GTX 580s on Aqua Computer’s web portal, and here’s what they say:“Apply a thin layer of thermal compound to the GPU and the RAM modules. These components are marked red in the figure. The thermal compound must not be electrically conductive! Cut fitting pieces from the thermally conductive pad supplied with theaquagraFX and place them on top of the voltage regulators as indicated by green rectangles.”

AquagraFX water block for GTX 570/580 can be considered an advanced version of AquagraFX blocks on GTX 470/480 cards. TGT is not the one to skimp on clocks and the company will surely put Aqua Computers’ experience to good use, especially when it comes to dual GPU GTX 590 cards.

Another special feature is the Delrin connection terminal which offers the possibility of fitting connection from both sides of the waterblock. The connection thread is G1/4" in size.

Point of View / TGT sent us Eheim’s water pump with a single fan radiator, although it’s 5cm thick in order to cool the card effectively.

As you can see, the entire package is safe inside a large cardboard box. Unfortunately, Point of View/TGT didn’t bundle any games.

GTX 580 Beast 2 card runs 101MHz faster than reference GPUs, but we measured quite good thermals. Operating temperature was up to 64°C. Perhaps you expected lower GPU thermals but you should know that we used a single fan radiator with room temperature at 25°C.

Overclocking

We didn’t manage to break 1GHz for the GPU but we played games for about half an hour at 970MHz.

Running at 873MHz, Point of View/TGT’s GTX 580 Beast 2 is the fastest single GPU card around. In fact, the factory overclock pushed the card by another 101MHz, which earned the card some extra performance.

In case you’ve been skipping pages, we’ll remind you that Beast 2 is the new and faster iteration of GTX 580 Beast. Point of View / TGT launched its GTX 580 Beast back in December and its 855MHz GPU earned it the title of the fastest GTX 580 around at the time. However, since other partners have jumped aboard and pushed the GPUs to about 850MHz, the PoV/TGT teams decided to squeeze some more juice out of the card.

GTX 580 Beast 2 is intended for special group of enthusiasts, although we believe they’ll too sit down once they hear that the card goes for €700.

The only difference with the original Beast and its successor are higher operating clocks. Both cards use tried and true AquagraFX water block that keeps the temperatures in check.

GTX 580 Beast 2 performance speaks for itself really and you won’t find a faster single-GPU product on the market. Having said that, the pricing may need further adjustments but the card encompasses two of our favorite things – silence and raw power. The card will surely be a faithful and silent servant and we’d recommend it to those enthusiasts that will settle for nothing but the best.

Our today's test subject is Point of View / TGT's GTX 570 Beast. Many of our readers already know that TGT is in charge of overclocking Point of View cards and that Beast stands for crème of the crop – the fastest card in its series.

You may recall that the GTX 570 Beast cost around €420 one month ago, which discouraged many from purchasing the card, but you can find the same card today priced at €360, here.

If we look at the GTX 570 Beast’s GPU clock, which stands at 841MHz, it is clear that the 109MHz factory overclock will leave the competitors in the dust. TGT handpicks only the best GPUs that can take anything you throw at them and then some, be it long gaming hours or overclocking. In fact, there’s still room for additional overclocking despite the hefty overclock.

Running at an impressive 841MHz core clock, the new GTX 570 Beast is available in two versions depending on the choice of the cooler. One features a reference cooler and is a bit cheaper than the second version that features a 9mm slim-line AquaCopper water cooling block. We got the first one and you can see it on the picture below.

Geforce GTX 580 i GTX 570 cards use the GF110, an improved version of the GF100 used on GTX 480 cards.

Compared to the GTX 580 however, GTX 570 comes with one less stream multiprocessor, lower operating clocks, less memory and lower memory interface. Still, none of that prevented the GTX 570 to score similarly to the GTX 480 and still retain superior performance-per-watt ratio. As we already said, GTX 570 Beast beat the rest of the lot when it comes to the factory overclock and the GPUZ screenshot proves it.

The card comes in a nicely themed box with a unique way of making sure the card is fixed and safe within the box.

Point of View / TGT stuck to reference cooling for their card. Note that GeForce GTX 570 requires two slots in your system. Thankfully, Nvidia did a great job this time around and managed to get some really good cooling performance. However, since the GTX 570 Beast boasts pretty high clocks, we were afraid it might not be enough. Measurements show that GPU temperatures during intensive operation won’t go over 90°C.

The plastic hood covers the entire card and all that’s visible is the blower-style fan, which exhausts hot air out the back of the system chassis. Geforce GTX 580 and Geforce GTX 570 feature a new adaptive GPU fan control algorithm that smoothes the ramp up/down of the fan speed under load.

GTX 580/570 is the same size as Geforce GTX 480, measuring 10.5 inches or 26.7 centimeters in length. GTX 570 has two 6-pin power connectors maximum graphics card power 219W (for reference card) compared to GTX 580 which has one 6-pin and 8-pin power connector and maximum graphics card power 244W.

The video engine still have maximum of two display supported, no DisplayPort, (the card also supports DisplayPort if board partners want to use it).

The GTX 570 Beast card has two dual-link DVI ports and one mini-HDMI interface. The mini-HDMI to HDMI converter is included in the card’s bundle. Nvidia included an HDMI sound device within the GPU, so there is no need for connecting the card to your motherboard’s/soundcard’s SPDIF out to get audio and video via HDMI.

GTX 570 comes with two SLI connectors. This means you can combine up to four GTX 570 cards in SLI mode for improved performance or image quality settings.

Point of View / TGT GTX 570 Beast comes with a massive factory overclock, but you can always squeeze a few more frames out if you choose to do so. Reference GPU clock is 841MHz and Afterburner reports GPU voltage as 1037mV.

Afterburner allowed us to push the GPU voltage to 1100mV, which helped in pushing the GPU all the way up to 925MHz.

Noise and Thermals

As far as noise levels go, the GTX 570 Beast’s cooler is quiet in idle, with GPU temperature around 44°C.

The GTX 570 Beast gets louder during operation, but not too loud. Note however that we were pretty satisfied with noise levels taking in account the much higher clocks and given performance.

Measurements show that GPU temperatures during intensive operation are some 10°C higher than at reference clocks. Note that temperatures will rarely exceed 89°C during gaming, as the GPUz screenshot above proves.

Power Consumption

The GTX 570 Beast‘s performance is great. Thanks to the factory overclock, this card is faster than the GTX 480. It can hold its own when put up against the GTX 580 but its consumption is higher than on the reference card.

When idle, GTX 570 and GTX 570 Beast consume about the same – Beast consumed about 2-3W more.

During intensive operation however, our rig with GTX 570 Beast inside consumed about 40W more than the same rig with GTX 570. This means that the GTX 570 Beast can draw more power than the reference GTX 580.

Point of View / TGT continued with its tradition and bestowed its Beast treatment onto the GTX 570 cards. We say cards because TGT offers two versions of its GTX 570 Beast – an air cooled one and a water cooled one.

We tested the air-cooled one, which runs at 841MHz for the GPU and 3960MHz (effectively) for the GDDR5 memory just like the water cooled one. The 109MHz factory overclocking comes with a warranty but at a slightly higher price as well. The card is available, here, at €360, which is about €70 higher than the most affordable GTX 570 cards. However, €360 is still attractive considering the fact that GTX 570 Beast cost about €420 about a month ago.

The GTX 570 Beast we tested uses Nvidia’s reference cooling. Despite the high overclock, reference cooling does a good job in keeping temperatures below 90°C. Of course, the Beast isn’t as quiet as the reference GTX 570, but overall we really liked what we saw. The cooler can be clearly heard during intensive operation, but it’s not too loud. However, the overclock resulted in higher consumption and you should know that the GTX 570 Beast will can draw more than the GTX 580.

With extraordinary performance displayed by the GTX 570 Beast, it definitely deserves the title of the fastest factory overclocked GTX 570. If you’ve developed a taste for factory overclocked cards with only the crème of the crop GPUs, then Point of View / TGT’s GTX 570 Beast card is a safe bet.

Today we’ll briefly get to know Point of View / TGT GTX 570 BEAST, the fastest factory overclocked GTX 570 which is now available. Since Nvidia gave its partners a green light for overclocking, the day of the launch saw many factory overclocked cards. One of the fastest so far was the Point of View / TGT GTX 570 Ultra Charged, which boasts a 810MHz GPU, but the GTX 570 Beast beat it with the GPU core at 841MHz. This means that Point of View / TGT pushed the GPU by 109MHz.

Running at an impressive 841MHz core clock, the new GTX 570 is available in two versions depending on the choice of the cooler. One features a reference cooler and is a bit cheaper than the second version, which comes with a 9mm slim-line AquaCopper water cooling block. We received the first one and you can see it on the picture below.

Thankfully, Nvidia did a great job this time around and managed to get some really good cooling performance. However, since the GTX 570 Beast boasts pretty high clocks, we were afraid it might not be enough.

Measurements show that GPU temperatures during intensive operation are some 10°C higher than at reference clocks, but they won’t go over 90°C. While we didn’t consider the reference fan loud, the Beast fan was clearly audible but again not too loud. Note however that we were pretty satisfied with noise levels taking in account the much higher clocks.

The card comes in a nicely themed box with a unique way of making sure the card is fixed and safe within the box.

The water-cooled GTX 570 Beast will end up with a suggested retail price of €499, while the air-cooled (reference cooler) models is available for €413 here.

The GTX 570 Beast‘s performance is great but the price is high. Thanks to the factory overclock, this card is much faster than the GTX 480, and can hold its own when put up against the reference GTX 580.

Here are some preliminary results – stay tuned as the full review will follow soon.